6 Bewildering Symptoms in Newborns That Parents Don’t Expect

Introduction Pediatrician Dr. Paul Smolen here. Parents are often bewildered by some of the bizarre physical symptoms their babies develop soon after birth. Stay tuned and I will break down some of these unexpected baby bodily changes in today's installment of Portable Practical Pediatrics. Photo compliments of Pixabay Images Musical Intro Science Drive of Pregnancy Pregnancy and the first few months of life for a baby are a time of radical change with respect to their hormone balance as well as the germs that live on their skin. These changes cause some unexpected physical symptoms in many babies, possibly some that you have or are going to see in your children. Understanding the biology of what's going on with your baby is essential to having insight into your baby's changing physiology so let's take a quick tour down Science Drive to better understand these changes, shall we? --Radical Change Number One-Hormones Come and Go First, let's consider the changes that babies experience with regards to hormones. You remember learning about hormones in biology class- those circulating chemicals that turn on or off various tissue functions in your baby's body. Think about a baby being exposed to the large amount of estrogen that is required to keep a pregnancy going all the way to term. This has a tremendous effect on a wide variety of an infant's bodily systems. Think about it, as far as hormones, your baby has been pregnant along with their mothers. I know what you are thinking,  "If I have a boy, estrogen doesn't effect boys right?" Yes it does as I am about to describe to you in a minute!  Just because your baby is a boy doesn't mean that their cells don't know what estrogen is and what to do when it is around as you about to see. Shifting gears, now imagine the effects on your baby when suddenly all that estrogen disappears- at delivery.  Suddenly, your infant is no longer pregnant hormonally and you can begin to see the effects of the male hormone that babies have small amounts of- testost